Table of Administrative Changes by Dynasty

How to read the table

Years are given as Western years, calculated from the first year of each reign period; the correspondence between the sexagenary dates and the Western years follows the gazetteer's own text. The reign-year column follows the gazetteer's wording. The basis column gives short source labels: "Kangxi gazetteer, Annals" means Volume One (Annals) of the Kangxi edition of the Lishui County Gazetteer; "District government, Historical Evolution" means the "Historical Evolution" page of the Lishui District government website; and "District government, Administrative Divisions" means that site's "Administrative Divisions" page. Where more than one change falls in the same year, the rows are given separately; where a source is silent, the cell is left blank and noted.

Table of administrative changes

Year	Reign year	Administrative unit	Subordinate to	Basis
591	11th year of Kaihuang (Sui)	Lishui County (founded; "the beginning of the county")	Jiangzhou	Kangxi gazetteer, Annals; District government, Historical Evolution
598	18th year of Kaihuang	Lishui County (Liyang merged into Lishui)	Jiangzhou	Kangxi gazetteer, Annals
608	4th year of Daye	Lishui County	Danyang Commandery	Kangxi gazetteer, Annals
620	3rd year of Wude (Tang)	Lishui County (upper grade; Liyang detached from the east)	Yangzhou	Kangxi gazetteer, Annals
624	7th year of Wude	Lishui County	Jiangzhou	Kangxi gazetteer, Annals
625	8th year of Wude	Lishui County	Yangzhou	Kangxi gazetteer, Annals
626	9th year of Wude	Lishui County	Xuanzhou	Kangxi gazetteer, Annals
742	1st year of Tianbao	Lishui County	Xuancheng Commandery	Kangxi gazetteer, Annals
757	2nd year of Zhide	Lishui County	Jiangning Commandery	Kangxi gazetteer, Annals
758	1st year of Qianyuan	Lishui County	Shengzhou	Kangxi gazetteer, Annals
761	2nd year of Shangyuan	Lishui County	Xuanzhou	Kangxi gazetteer, Annals
890	1st year of Dashun	Lishui County	Shengzhou (the old gazetteer notes that the Junji does not record this transfer)	Kangxi gazetteer, Annals
920	2nd year of Wuyi (Wu)	Lishui County	Jinling Prefecture	Kangxi gazetteer, Annals
937	3rd year of Tianzuo (Southern Tang)	Lishui County	Jiangning Prefecture	Kangxi gazetteer, Annals
975	8th year of Kaibao (Song)	Lishui County	Shengzhou	Kangxi gazetteer, Annals
1018	2nd year of Tianxi	Lishui County	Jiangning Prefecture	Kangxi gazetteer, Annals
1129	3rd year of Jianyan	Lishui County (secondary metropolitan county)	Jiankang Prefecture	Kangxi gazetteer, Annals
1275	1st year of Deyou (Song) / 12th year of Zhiyuan (Yuan)	Lishui County (surrendered to the Yuan)	under the Yuan province at Jiankang	Kangxi gazetteer, Annals
1276	2nd year of Deyou	Lishui County (darughachi appointed)	Jiankang Prefecture	Kangxi gazetteer, Annals
1277	2nd year of Jingyan	Lishui County	Jiankang Circuit	Kangxi gazetteer, Annals
1295	1st year of Yuanzhen (Yuan)	Lishui Zhou (raised to prefecture, middle rank)	Jiankang Circuit (the district government writes Jiqing Circuit)	Kangxi gazetteer, Annals; District government, Historical Evolution
1329	2nd year of Tianli	Lishui Zhou	Jiqing Circuit	Kangxi gazetteer, Annals
1355	15th year of Zhizheng (Yuan)	Lishui Zhou (taken by the Ming forces)	Jiqing Circuit (Yuan)	Kangxi gazetteer, Annals
1356	16th year of Zhizheng	Lishui Zhou	Yingtian Prefecture	Kangxi gazetteer, Annals
1369	2nd year of Hongwu (Ming)	Lishui County (prefecture reduced to a county)	Yingtian Prefecture	Kangxi gazetteer, Annals; District government, Historical Evolution
1491	4th year of Hongzhi	Lishui County (Gaochun detached from the southwest)	Yingtian Prefecture	Kangxi gazetteer, Annals
1646	3rd year of Shunzhi (Qing)	Lishui County	Jiangning Prefecture	Kangxi gazetteer, Annals; District government, Historical Evolution
1912-1949	Republican period	Lishui County	not recorded	no source held; see "Lishui in the Republican Period"
1949	25 April 1949	Lishui County (district system adopted)	Zhenjiang Prefecture, Southern Jiangsu Administrative Office	District government, Historical Evolution
1983	March 1983	Lishui County	Nanjing	District government, Historical Evolution
2013	February 2013	Lishui District (county abolished)	Nanjing	Guohan [2013] No. 24; District government, Historical Evolution
2015	2015	Lishui District (Yongyang and Zhetang towns made subdistricts)	Nanjing	passing remark in the 2018 provincial reply
2018	May 2018	Lishui District (Dongping, Honglan and Shiqiu towns made subdistricts)	Nanjing	provincial government reply of 15 May 2018
present	—	Lishui District (five subdistricts, three towns)	Nanjing	District government, Administrative Divisions (accessed 25 September 2026)

Not in the table

• The Republican period: not recorded in the sources held, and treated in "Lishui in the Republican Period".
• The changes of jurisdiction between 1949 and 1983: not recorded in the sources held.
• Administrative units earlier than the Sui: the gazetteer records that Liyang County was established under the Qin and placed under Zhang Commandery, and that it remained under Danyang Commandery after the Han set that commandery up. All of these precede 591, the starting point of this table, and belong to the entries in the chronological record.

Uncertainties

First, on the transfer of Lishui to Shengzhou in 890, the annalistic volume cites an earlier gazetteer to the effect that the Junji does not record it; the table follows the annalistic volume and adds the note.

Second, the circuit to which Lishui belonged when it was raised to a prefecture in 1295 is not recorded in the annalistic volume; the district government writes Jiqing Circuit, but the name Jiqing dates only from 1329. The table sets the two side by side; see "Lishui under the Song and Yuan".

Third, for the conversion of towns into subdistricts in 2015 the only evidence is a passing remark in the 2018 reply, which is entered here with its nature noted.

Fourth, the Western years are calculated from the first year of each reign period — the fourth year of Daye, for instance, being 608 — while the correspondence of the sexagenary dates to Western years follows the gazetteer's own text; where the two differ, the gazetteer governs.